Water-meter.



'Lnnrrs. WATER METER.

' APPLIOATIOH FILED 13, 1909. 9%L563. f Patented N0v.30,-1909 2 SEEETS-SHEET 1 Attesa:

H. I. DILTS.

WATER. METER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13, 1909.

941,563. Patented Nov. 30, 1909 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 d 1 Q x "CZ m HENRY I. DILTS, {)3 NEW YGRK, N. 55., ASSliGNOR TC) NEPTUNE METER GOMPAI entrants? @EFFLQE.

NEW YORK, N. A CCPZRPOEATION OF NEW JERSEY.

"WATER-METER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 13, 1909. Serial No. 483,217.

To all whom it may cancer-1i:

tie it known that l, Haney l. Dir/rs, a citizen. of the United States. residing in lilhnhurst, in the borough of Queens of the city of New York, in the State of li'ew York, have invented certain new and useful [inprrwcments in llhterdlletcrS, of which the Y lollowlng a specllitnitlon, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a partheicot. I f

The reliabilitv and durability of water meters,- aswell as minimum reduction of head in operation, are largely dependent upon reduction of friction and prevention of wear of moving. parts. This becoines'very apparent when it. is considered that an ordinary water meter is in almost ceaseless operation and thatfisuch operation is usin'tlly at a very high rate of speed, the rotation of the prime inoving parts of a dish n eter being often at. the rate of four or five hundred revolutions per 'n'iihute. It becomes, therefore, ofgreat importance in striving for perfection in the construction of water meters to reduce to a minimum the friction of moving parts and liability to wear.

It is therefore the object; of this invention, which. is 'mainly concerned with disk meters, to improve the construction of such nicters with this general purpose in view.

in accordance therewith provision is made whereby the wear between the ball which which embodies the invention.

sarries the disk and its socket, which has heretofore been confined inainly to one point, shall be distributed; and provision whereby the weight .ot the driving spindle of the reduetion train and its pinion is balanced during operation so that the pinion shall not heavily upon the plate which otherwise support-s it i The invention will be more fully explained he inafter with reference to the accompanyswings in which uro Ltis a View partly in elevation and partly in vertical section of a disk meter F 2 is a detail view illustrating a modification in the support; of the disk. Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating still another modi- .usual by the disk ball 1, which also ctr; it:-

, The resultant o any usual or suitali le manner. The main lower casing a supports in. the usual manner the di i: chamber, eoinprising the lower part and the upper part it, this chamber being" provided with the diaphragm on opp" sides of which are. the inlet and outlet ol dish chamber. The upper inain casing Q") liliewisesupports in usual manner the 1e l itltifll.

ductiou gearing f and. the remistcr may be of any suitable or preierro cor won. The measuring disk /L 13 car the disk spindle la.

The dish ball 2', in the construction hereto fore in use, is seated. directly in the upper and lower part- 1 and (Z ol. the disk ca ino; t; the rces which act. upon the dish tends to e. e excessive wear be tween the ball and tar: lower seat at a. point. in the ipiadrant nearest the outlet, and between the hall and the upper seat at a corre spending; point, the wear being mainly, however, between the ball and the lower seat. Such wear 'e\ entually permits the ball to More out of center, thereby att'ecting the accuracy of the meter and finally causing lrictiou bet ween the disk and the walls of the casing and perhaps breakage. To prevent such wear upon one side of the seat, in the improved construction, the lower seat Z and,

preferably also, the upper seat m through which the spindle in protrudes, are made independent of the respective parts of the disk casing, and the lower seat Z, at least, is made rotatable, having a free tit or floating in the step c formed therefor in the lower disk casing I, that it may be slowly but continuously rotated during the operation-of the meter and the wear between the ball and the seat. be thereby distributed.

firs shown in Fig. 1, a single ball bearing Z is interposed between the seat Z and the bottom of the lower casing 0, in the axis of rotation, whih= n Fig. 2 the seat- 1 is shown as having a tr. "it" or floating in the step e of the lower casing without the interposition of a ball, the presence of liquid between the seat and the step being relied upon a lubricant sufiicient to insure the free rotary movement. of the seat. In both of the constructions shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the fric-. tion between the ball and the seat is relied upon to etieet the slow rotary movement of the seat, while in the corstruction shown in Fig. 3 other means for cli'ecting such rotary movement are shown, such means comprising a weighted lever 0, pivotally supported in a bracket 0 on the bottom of the lower casing c and having a finger 0 whica projects upwardly through the bottom of the lower casing in position to be struck by the disk /L at every oscillationthereof. The shart 0 on which the arm or lever 0 is mounted has at one end an arm 0* which carries a weighted pawl 0 which projects upwardly through the bottom of the seat 6' and engages ratchet teeth 1* formedon the bottom of the seat Z, so that at each oscillat on of the disk 71, the seat Z receives a positive forward impulse.

It will be observed that the provision or -an independent seat for the ball not only distributes the wear between the ball and the seat but also permits the seat to be formed independently of the lower casing and to be formed of a different and better wear-resistantmaterial than that which can be employed to advantage in the lower casing. Furthermore, the seat may be removed and replaced by a new one it, for any reason, such substitution of a new seat becomes de- .sirable. What has already been stated with sorespect to the lower seat obviously is true with respect to the upper seat 112., which may be rotatable to distribute wear and may also be machined independently of the upper casing and formed of a ditferent material.

" I In the construct-ion of nearly all meters 1 there are provided, Within the main easing,

so called gravel chambers in which most of the heavy grit is collected so-that it does not pass through the meter. Nevertheless, asqthe water soon fills the interior of the "main casing, above the disk casing, and as the water which so enters the spaces above the disk casing sometimes carries with t more or less fine grit, it happens that sulhcient fine grit settles upon the disk ball 2',

Where it is exposed through the opening for the disk spindle, in the upper disk casing, to create considerable friction and wear between the disk ball and its seat.

is a means to prevent the settling of fine grit upon the dis ball, the upper eisk ing (Z is provided on its upper sidc, around the upper ball seat, and completely inclosing the same, with an impcrtorate annular flange or wall 03, integral with the upper disk casing, which extends to and. fits closely against the under side of the lower plate p of the gear train, the underside of such plate being preferably formed with a low annular flange against which the annular flange or wal d fits. The chamber within the flange or wall d and between the upper disk casing and the lower plate of the gear train fills with water, but as it is a dead space which communicates with the annular and senses practically dead space outside of the flange or wall d, practically no water currents enter the space within the wall (1' and there is practically no grit, even in a very finely divided condition, introduced into the chamber within the flange or wall d and therefore practically no fine grit can settle upon the exposed surface of the disk ball 2'.

In the operation of meters as ordinarily constructed, it is found that the pinion r on the driving spindle a, resting against the upper surface of the plate 7), under the weight of the pinion, the spindle and the driving head 01' arms 15, sometimes wears into the plate 7) sutliciently to free the upper end of the spindle from the bridge u in which the upper end oi. the spindle has its hearing. The same is also sometimes true or" other vertical members of the gear train. To overcome this efiect of the weight of the spindle and its connected parts, or other member the driving or other arms t are formed with oblique or inclined. surfaces, like propeller blades, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, such surfaces being inclined upward in the direction of moven'ient of the arms, so that by the re-action of the wate' against such surfaces in the rapid rotation of the spindle, the spindle and its connected parts are lifted so that the weight thereof is practically counter-balanced and there is no wear between the underside of the pinion and the upper side of: the plate. The internal resistance of the meter is thus further diminished and the life of the meter is prolonged.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an oscillating disk meter, the combinathm with the disk and the disk hall, of a disk casing formed with a step, a ball scat formed imlcpendently of the casing and freely rotatable in said step, and means to impart a slow rotary movement losaid ball seat during the operation of. the meter.

.2. In an oscillating disk meter, the combination with the disk and the disk ball, of a disk casing formed with a step, a ball seat formed independently of the casing and freely rotatable in said stop, an arm moved by the disk at each oscillation thereof and a pawl. actuated by said arm and engaging the ball seat to impart a step by step movement. thereto during the operation of the mcteiu 3. In an oscillating disk meter, the combination of a main casing, a disk casing, an oscillating disk having a disk spindle, a gear train, a plate supporting the gear train and a driving spindle having its driving arms formed with inclined surfaces like propeller blades to lift the spindle during the rotation thereof.

4. In a meter, the combination of a gear train including a driving spindle having its members mounted to rotate about vertical axes, (ma-of said members ha'vi'ng' atms This specification, signed and witnessed farmed Wiiih"il ll0liil8d surfaces tlo liftf snag this 11th day of March, A.-.D., 1909. Q .m'ember :1. uring he rotation tlemg an 1 y prevnt wear, a supporting plate for thevgear B DILIS" 5 train and mzmsactuatgd-by the' movement Signed. in the presence ofof the liquid throu'ghthe metento; rotate I A, "B. RwKE'm's,

such membez'a lfimrmm Y 

